Together
by Noe Izumi
Summary: After Link is seriously injured in an ambush, Midna analyzes her feelings about the hero who is meant to save Hyrule... and her own world.


The pain was starting to be unbearable. He felt his arm numb and burning, as if fire instead of blood was flowing through its veins. He slackened the reins for a moment and moved his fingers, just to make sure he could do it, but a terrible pain went through his arm from the fingers to the shoulder.

The sun was in the highest point in the sky, and the warm sunlight filled the vast Hyrule fields. Its warm, which was so relaxing hours ago, now seemed suffocating to him. Sweat ran down his forehead and itched in his eyes. He tried to raise his arm to dry it, but he was not able to move, as if it weighed a ton; even the sword and shield he carried at his back seemed to weigh twice now.

His mind seemed to had gone far away at times; his thoughts, undefined, got lost in the mist. He was no longer riding her mare, Epona, but he felt as if she were simply carrying him. Stunned, he abandoned himself to the slow and rhythmic walking of the animal. His heart was pounding heavily, muffling the sound of hooves in his hears. A sudden idea came into his head with an overwhelming certainty, and the horror he felt dazed him even more. The ambush... The arrow ... A dizzy turn stroke him and he fell down the saddle to the ground with a thud; the animal's nervous whinny echoed over the rocks of the way. 

"Link? Are you okay?" 

The curious creature who accompanied him had her only visible scarlet eye stuck in theirs. She had came out of his shadow in her full form; to Link's glassy eyes, the drawings of her skin seemed to glow with an other-worldly light. The boy tried to speak but his mouth was dry, he swallowed and wet his lips clumsily. 

"Midna ... The wound ..."

The Twili said nothing, but she approached to take a look. The boy's arm had been bandaged in a rush after the ambush; it was stained with blood, crimson standing out fiercely on the dirty white cloth.

"The arrow ..." he said in a whisper, "I think it was poisoned".

"I told you it looked bad..." Midna said reprovingly; Link started to say something, but she interrupted him "I know, you could not get to it when we were attacked ... We can't stay here, you aren't able to fight right now and if some monster attack you'll be in trouble. We're very close to the Faron Woods. It's only a scratch; the Spirit Spring will heal you. Come on Link, just a little effort"

But the boy was barely able to move, so riding on his own was going to be impossible. Midna sighed, resigned. He would be the hero chosen by the goddesses, but he was still made of flesh, and flesh was the most vulnerable thing in the world. She helped him to get on the mare, and the young man grabbed the animal so he could not fall to the floor if he passed out. Midna tried to contact with Epona's mind in order to ask her to carry him; the animal, accustomed to her presence, offered no resistance. 

When they reached the Spirit Spring, clouds were stained in the orange sunset. Link had been able to hold onto Epona all the way into without falling, but when he tried to get off her, he felt to the ground feeling exhausted. His head was spinning and he was shivering with cold, as if he had a fever. Even if he would manage to heal the wound, it was evident that some of the poison was acting already. Either of them said it, but they knew, and shared their fear in silence.

Link took some sips of water to quench his thirst; it felt as if the liquid cleaned him in the inside. Then he removed the bandages and cleaned the wound. For a moment the purity of the place comforted him and made him feel a little better, but pretty soon he felt an insane fire running through his arm. He found a clean bandage on the saddlebags and bandaged it with a grimace. The wound had already begun to heal thanks to the miraculous virtues of these waters, but he could feel the presence of that small part of the poison running through his body with every beat of his heart. He felt feverish, contaminated.

"I think it's better that we spend the night here" Midna said. "You have to rest to get rid of the poison"

Link shook his head and tried to stand up. His narrowed eyes did not seem to look anywhere.

"It hardly aches. We can't be delayed ... we have to ..."

He could not go on; the rest of the words refused to come out of his throat. He collapsed on the grass, his face down. Alarmed, Midna rushed to him. Finally, he had fainted.

Behind the spring, there was a clearing, surrounded by trees. Each time they had been there in their journey, Midna never saw a monster. It was a safe and quiet place to spend the night. Link needed absolute rest so the poison would not spread faster through his body, or he could be in real trouble. Like Link, she was not happy at the idea of being delayed, but at that moment it was the last thing to care about in her list.

Epona was carrying a blanket behind the saddle. The Twili sent her a quick, brief thought and the horse whinnied softly, as giving her approval to take it. Midna thought she heard something in the depths of the animal mind, "Please, creature of the shadows ... take care of him."

Midna made Link lie down in a comfortable position, using his hat as a pillow, and covered him with the blanket up to his chest. Annoyed, she gave a long sigh, resting her head in her hand condescendingly.

"This is your fault, you know, sir, "I-will-go-riding-Epona?" ..." she said with bitter sarcasm.  
>In the middle of the night, the silence was only broken by the hoot of an owl and the quiet breathing of the boy. Midna's mind flew back to dawn, to the moment in which it all started.<p>

After having spent the night in the castle town, Link insisted on go riding to the Sacred Grove (they had reasons to think that the thing they were looking for was hidden there). A Twilight portal would have taken them to the forest in a heartbeat, but Link still insisted:

"I want to get some sunlight after all that cold, up there in the Snowpeak", he said. "Don't worry, I can protect myself, can't I?" 

He also wanted to leave Epona with that weird boy who had given him the lantern; he would take care of her for a few rupees while they were exploring the Sacred Grove. He did not want to leave her in the fields, with all these monsters prowling around. Moreover, feeling naughty, he proposed her to spend some time out from his shadow and ride with him. Midna mocked at him. Light could not hurt her yet, but she still did not like it that much. She felt more comfortable in the shadows; after all, she was born there.

"Midna ... You look sad after we left Arbiter's Grounds," said the young man "Maybe a ride will cheer you up a bit, so you would cease to grumble just a bit, you, grumpy thing..."

Annoyed, Midna gave a rap in his head with its flaming orange hair, turned into a hand at her will. Link laughed and caught her by surprise, seating her at the front and putting Epona into a gallop. Midna screamed as he laughed, amused.

"Stupid human, let me go! I said, let me go! I'm not a rider!"

'Well, when I am a wolf you love to ride me ..." Link said, mocking, shouting to be heard above the thundering gallop of Epona; his bright blue eyes were flaming "Look this!"

"No way! Don't ever dare...! LIIIIIIIIIINK, I'M GOING TO KILL YA-AAAAHH...!"

Midna cried when Epona jumped a ditch, perfectly landing at the other side without reducing its frantic gallop.

Midna did not find anything interesting in that stupid game, but Link was laughing heartily. She was above such things, but she had to admit that the feeling of freedom was overwhelming. He soon ceased her protests and gave herself to the wind in silence, in the hero's arms, feeling truly protected for first time in her life. That was the first time in a while she had felt like smiling heartily.

Something had changed since she first had met the young farmer, who had become the sacred beast of the prophecy, whom she only intended to use to save their world, to destroy the dark power of Zant and the evil which helped him. That farmer turned out to be the hero chosen by the goddesses, and although at first she had found that fact most advantageous to her plans, Link was no longer her instrument. Now, what she wanted was to protect him, as he had protected her before.

She wanted to save him. He and his world.

Suddenly, she knew that if anything ever happened to him, she could not forgive herself. Something was changing inside her. It was as if the Princess Zelda had done more than saving her life when he was nearly dead and transferred her powers ... Or perhaps it was something else ... With her mind back in the clearing for a moment, Midna shook her head angrily. Whatever it was, she neither knew it, nor had reason to care about it.

But it was far from a pleasure trip: monsters ambushed them at the exit of Kakariko Gorge. When they believed they had finished with them, some archers appeared on the top of a cliff, catching them by surprise, with such a bad luck that an arrow reached Link in the arm, just below the coat of mail. The wound bled profusely, but it did not seem serious, so he bandaged it quickly and fought. Staring at the exhausted face of his companion, Midna thought that fortunately the arrow did not stuck in his arm; surely the poison would have entered in his blood at once, killing him instantly. That thought sent a chill around her body and she embraced herself.

Night fell while she was lost in her thoughts. Suddenly she felt cold, but she was not the only one. Under the blanket, Link was shivering. Midna gently pushed away a lock of honey-colored hair and put a hand on his forehead, noticing it hot and drenched in sweat, but his hands were cold. His temperature was rising up, and she did not know what to do.

If they only could get help ... He thought of that shaman at Kakariko, after all, this man had miraculously saved the young prince Zora, but the trip was too long to go riding and she neither dare to use a portal: in the state in which he was, he probably would not survive to the transformation.

The hut of that lantern-guy whose hair usually had birds was nearby. She recalled that the woodshed was outside, under the window; she could take some logs to make a fire. Link wouldn't have approve of stealing, but now he wasn't able to reproach, neither to tell off her, and they needed firewood. She had to keep him warm, and the blanket was not enough.

The Twili instantly slipped among the trees and reached the small hut. The embers of a firelight extinguished on the floor, but nobody was there. Inside the hut there was no light, the peculiar salesman had left. She took some logs with the tip of his hair and returned to the clearing with them.

He formed a circle with small stones and put there the wood. Focusing for a moment, she created an energy ball in his hands, and then tossed into the wood; the fire lighted instantly. These inhabitants of the light are so complicated, she said to herself with a smile. Link would have to use the lantern, as he did other times they had stopped to rest, and for sure he would have burn a finger, as he always did. She smiled as she remembered how she had laughed while Link, bothered by her jokes, had took his dinner with a frown and without saying a word.

The clearing was filled with a nice, warm air, but the boy would not stop shaking. The red light reflected on his pale face, marked under the eyes by the unhealthy blush of fever. Under the blanket, his chest shook with each heavy breath. Worried, Midna grabbed the hand resting on his chest, the mark of the chosen by the goddesses slightly glimmering in the firelight. Under the skin, his blood, probably contaminated, flow agitated through the veins.

Midna fumbled in Link's belongings, hung on Epona's back. Fortunately, he still had a bottle filled with potion. That ruby-red liquid smelled awful, but it had helped him other times when his weak human nature succumbed to exhaustion. She poured a few drops on his half-opened lips, and threw some more when she saw the boy reacted and swallowed them. Then she damped a cloth in the water from the nearby fountain, cooling her feverish skin.

Shaking, Link muttered something Midna did not understood. The Twili did not know the nature of that poison, and if his delusions were the result of the toxin or the fever. All she could do was stay with him and hope that the fresh water or the potion had some effect on him, but that agitation made no good to him; the poison would take possession of his weakened body. However, there was something she could do to help ... He put a hand on the sweaty forehead of Link, and for a moment, the horror he was feeling hit her like a painful blow. She pushed it back until it vanished; then, she entered carefully into the consciousness of the young boy. She called his name softly, and when he was aware of her presence, she made him see the green fields of Hyrule, she made him smell the sweet fragrance of the hay of his village, the streets filled again with the laughter of children. She showed him the rivers, the forests, the distant mountains that no one had dared to cross before.

"We will save this world, Link ..."

The man's eyelids stopped shaking. Almost instantly, his chest began to rise and fall more slowly. Midna noticed that the flowing of blood under his skin had become steady and calm.

"I need you by my side ... We will do this together ..."

Before leaving his conscience, Midna felt his body relax. The chosen by the goddesses, the hero who would save the worlds of Light and Twilight, had finally fallen into a deep and restful sleep. Midna, clutching his hand, stood by him all night, waiting.

The first rays of sunlight which filtered through the branches of trees felt gently on Link's face. The young man breathed slowly, filling his lungs deeply with the fragrant forest breeze. To his ears it came the gentle birdsong and the murmur of water coming from the fountain of the spirit. He opened his eyes slowly, as if awakening from a deep sleep. It took him a while to realize where he was, but pretty soon he remembered everything. He sat up, slowly, a cloth dampened with warm water fell on his lap. Besides, the steaming embers of a fire were going off.

"Midna?"

He heard the laughter of mischievous Twili, who suddenly appeared beneath some trees.  
>"Hey, hero! Are you already awake? I suppose you're hungry. Take this"<p>

With the tip of her hair, she gave him a piece of bread that looked freshly baked.

"Where did you get it? Have you stolen it? Midna..."

She laughed again.

"That's not the only thing I've stolen since last night..." she said mysteriously, with a wink of her eye.

"What do you mean? What happened? Midna?"

The laughter of his fellow vanished among the trees.

After having eaten a little, Link began to feel strong again. Thanks to the restful night and the cares of Midna, his body had already got rid of the poison, and the wound had began to heal. When he felt stronger, he gathered their belongings and walked to the hut where Coro lived. Embarrassed, Link explained everything to him. He wanted to pay for the logs and the loaf of bread, but the weird salesman, refused: in fact, he even invited Link to have a hot tea. At least, he did accept a few rupees to take care of Epona for a few days.

Link said goodbye to the seller and his loyal mare. Midna, tired of being in the sun, came out of her hiding place among the trees and hid in the hero's shadow. The hero and the Princess of Twilight set out their undertaking.

"Together ... We will do this together."


End file.
